𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟭
❝ 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡 𝖲𝖳𝖮𝖯 𝖲𝖨𝖦𝖭 ❞
❪ 𝙏𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙁𝙄𝙑𝙀, 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘈 ❫

𝟤𝟢. ╱ ✷ ❝ i 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 i'd 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱
it 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 ❞

"𝙎𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀𝙎 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎 𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 happen to you. They just happen. You can't help it. But it's not what you do next that counts. Not what happens, but what you decide to do about it. And I've made some very bad decisions in my life. As you know."

"Lay back down." Riley mumbles, tugging on Scott's arm as he tries to stand up from her bed, reaching down to grab his discarded shirt from the floor, "Don't leave."

Scott chuckled lowly, "It's late, Riles. Mom has texted me about a dozen times asking when I'm coming home."

Riley pouts as his arm moves to rest on the other side of her body so that he's leaning over her laying down figure, her green eyes looking up into his blue ones. "Stay, please? I want you to stay with me."

"Okay, okay, I'll stay." Scott laid back down, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she moved to lay on his chest, kissing the top of her head.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙄 𝙏𝙊𝙇𝘿 𝙔𝙊𝙐 there was more stories about the night of Jessica's party, so here it goes."

"Clay!" Riley called out to her cousin with a laugh as she stood next to Jeff, Zach and Scott who had finally made it to the party.

"Hey, guys." Clay looked at the group of four, noticing the tight grip that Jeff had around Riley's waist so she didn't leave his sight, even if they were now sobered up.

"Clay." Jeff walked forward, leaving Riley behind with Zach and Scott, the Reed boy discreetly wrapping an arm around the blonde's waist. "Dude, you're leaving?"

"Uh, yeah, I kind of am." Clay tells him.

"Looked like shit was happening for you in there." Jeff says, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Did it?"

"Didn't it?"

"I don't know, man. I just...I don't ever know...anything." Clay tells him, watching Jeff glance back to his cousin to make sure that she was still there with the two boys.

"That's why you got me and Riley, man." Says Jeff, "I know. Whatever happened in there...just give her a minute. Then go back inside and just find her."

"I'm going home." Clay says, turning to leave.

"Just hang with us for a while, man. Riley and I are going on a beer run soon." Jeff tells him, "Come with us."

"You're driving?" Clay glanced down at the red cup that Jeff was holding in his hand.

Jeff lifted the cup up some, "Coca-Cola, my friend. Two beers, two hours ago. I'm good. And so is Riley, she's finally sober again."

"No. No. Thanks, Jeff. I'm gonna take a long walk home and consider the wreckage that is my life." Clay tells him.

Jeff chuckled, "You're a funny dude, Clay."

"So, I've been told. See you Monday?" Clay looked over at his cousin, "And made sure she gets back to your place in one piece."

Jeff glances back at Riley with a soft smile, "Always. See ya Monday."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙔𝙊, 𝙎𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙄! 𝙔𝙊𝙐'𝙍𝙀 blocking us in!" Jeff tells the dark skinned girl as he and Riley stood next to the entry way of the kitchen, "We've got to go for provisions."

"Oh, shit. Okay, I'll be right out." Sheri says, "I've got to get home anyway."

"We don't wanna make you leave." Riley says leaning into Jeff's side.

"No. I'm staying at my dad's which comes with a curfew." She tells the two best friends, "I'll get my keys and be right out."

"Thank you, ma'am." Jeff said, tugging Riley in the direction of the front door.

"Bye, Blossom!" Riley grinned as she and Jeff passed the Baker girl sitting at the piano.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙉𝙏𝙀𝘿 𝙏𝙊 leave. But where would I go? And how would I get there? I was too weak to walk. Or just too weak to try. And then an unlikely hero came my way."

"Hey, you need a ride home?" Sheri taps Hannah on her shoulder after noticing her just sitting on her own at the piano.

"Is it that obvious?" Hannah asked.

"You don't look so good. I mean, you always look good, but you don't look so good." Sheri says, "Look, I can give you a ride."

"Um...how much have you had to drink?" Hannah questioned.

Sheri chuckled, "Barely anything. Okay, look, hold this." She hands Hannah her phone and keys, "Alright, guys, excuse me, pathway for Sher, please! Hoo-hoo!" She pushes through the crowd of people, "Alright, ready?" She asked Hannah before she did a cartwheel.

The teenagers in the living room cheer for the cheerleader.

"See? Now, look, if I can do that, I can drive home. Come on." Sher helps her stand up, "You got it?"

"Now I wonder if we would have both been better off staying at that party. Sheri, this one's for you."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙉𝙊, 𝙄 𝙂𝙊𝙏 it." Sheri opens the car door for Hannah, helping her inside, "You sure you're okay? You don't want me to grab you a water or something?"

"I'm good, thanks." Hannah mumbled.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙎 𝙀𝙓𝙋𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 a lot more action, you know?" Sheri says as she drove, "I mean, first party of the year. Like, some shit go down. Bryce and Zach, every time they get together...I kind of liked the music. Did you like the music?"

"Sheri....," Hannah trailed off.

"What?"

"I have to tell you....,"

"What?" Sheri questioned the drunk girl in the passenger seat of her car.

"Something happened tonight." Hannah says.

"What happened?" Sheri asked, "It's okay. I mean, you can tell me."

"I got wasted." Hannah says, "My parents are gonna kill me."

"Not if you tell them that you're staying at my house tonight." Sheri tells her.

"I like this plan.'

"Yeah, just sleep it off at my place, and your folks will never know."

"My phone's dead." Hannah pulled her phone from her pocket, "Do you have a charger in here?"

"Mi cell phone es su cell phone." Sheri dug around in her purse for her phone.

"I'm pretty sure "cell phone" in Spanish...,"

Sheri looks up, letting out a gasp and stomping on the breaks as she hit the stop sign, causing it to break and hit the ground, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. What was that?"

"I don't know." She says as her and Hannah get out of the car, "Oh, my God."

"Oh, shit." Hannah notices the stop sign now laying on the ground.

"Oh, my God. Look, I wasn't drunk." Sheri tells her, "I told you, I wasn't drunk."

"I know. I know."

"My dad's gonna kill me."

"The car is fine." Says Hannah, "But we need to call someone about the stop sign."

"No. We gotta go." Sheri said, "My dad will kill me if he finds out."

"We need to call the police. 9-1-1?"

Sheri starts walking back to her open car door, "Oh, my God. Look, no way. Hannah, get in the car."

"Sheri!" Hannah exclaimed, "When you do something wrong, you can't just...like...ignore it."

"Hannah, get in the car. I'll call when we get home." Sheri said.

"No."

"Come on."

"No!" Hannah exclaimed, watching the girl start to back up, "Sheri, come on. Sheri! Oh, my -- are you ser -- Sheri!"

"I needed to find a working phone. I wish I'd found it faster."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙍𝙄𝙇𝙀𝙔!" 𝙅𝙀𝙁𝙁 𝙇𝘼𝙐𝙂𝙃𝙎 as the blonde sings along to the song blaring on the radio, "You can't sing for shit!"

"You can't sing for shi -- Jeff! Look out--," Riley's words are cut off by a car ramming into Jeff's side of the car.

The impact caused Riley to harshly knock her head against the window, causing her to black out and slump against the door.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙔 𝙎𝘼𝙏 on a bench in the park, lost in thoughs of what had happened between him and Hannh, until he heard the sound of a car hornk honking harshly, then the sound of a car crash.

"So, yeah. That's the horrible decision. But that's not the whole story. Riley, I'm sorry."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗬 𝗥𝗨𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗦 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 the front door of his home, where his parents were sitting at the kitchen table, "Where's Riley?"

"What? What's go--,"

"Where's Riley, mom?!" Clay exclaimed, watching his father point towards the top of the stairs.

"She's in her bedroom." Matt tells him.

Clay races up the stairs, skipping two in between until he made it to the top and rushed into his cousin's bedroom, finding her sitting on her bed as she looked at a photo album that she had.

"Oh, hey. Look at this picture -- whoa!"

Clay hugs his cousin tightly to his chest, hiding his face in the crook of her neck which she then took notice of the headphones still around his neck.

"You're on Sheri's tape, aren't you?" Her voice cracked as she spoke, wrapping her arms around him to hug him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

Riley's eyes filled with tears, "It's okay. I'm okay."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗟𝗬, 𝗗𝗨𝗗𝗘, 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧'𝗦 bullshit." Alex spoke as he sat at a table outside of the cafeteria with Zach, Marcus, and Courtney, "He got suspended for three days, Riley for five, that shit goes on their records."

"Yeah, I really don't care." Marcus says, "At least we shut him up."

"They kept him out for three days, and Riley's still got two days left. I don't think we shut him up." Zach say, "And don't forget, Riley's gonna have all of our asses. I don't like angry Riley, okay? I'll be the first to admit that she fucking scares me."

"You guys want to take him on another ride?" Marcus asked as Alex stood and walked towards the school doors, "Cause that worked so well."

"His credibility is shot." Courtney spoke up, "No one's gonna believe anything he says."

"Yeah. Until he plays them the tapes, or until Tony does." Zach says as Ryan comes out, carrying his lunch tray.

"Yeah, what happened there?" Marcus asked Ryan.

"I tried. Tony wouldn't budge." Ryan sits down, "He's got the tapes hidden somewhere, and this medieval, self-flagellating moral code. We have to do this another way."

"It's back to Clay." Courtney said, "We already know Riley isn't gonna help up, not after what you guys did. If he's talking to Jessica about her party, it may be too late."

"Why are we defending Bryce?" Ryan questioned as Alex came back outside, "Can someone tell me? I mean, he's a fucking rapist."

"Whoa."

"Jesus, keep your voice down." Zach tells him.

"I published a poem." Ryan stated, "He's a rapist."

"Stop using that word." Zach said.

"Why?" Alex asked, "What other world would you use?"

"If Hannah's telling the truth, but Jessica says she's not." Courtney said.

Ryan scoffed, "Really, Courtney? That's still your position? Hannah is lying? Come out, little girl."

"Shut up, Ryan!" Courtney exclaimed.

"Okay, guys, look...tapes go out, we all go down, no matter what we do or didn't do." Zach says as he sits his hands on the table, "Think people are gonna sort that out?"

Ryan sat back down, "Maybe not, but maybe Bryce goes to jail."

"Do you think he would?" Questioned Zach, "Do you seriously think that would happen?"

"Yeah, well maybe we should find out." Alex says.

"I don't want to. No."

"We cannot let Clay pass on those tapes, period." Courtney stated.

"Or talk to Mr. Porter, which is why I wanted to buy us more time." Marcus tells the ones sitting at the table.

"You kept him away from Porter, but we don't know what he's gonna do on his day off." Alex said.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘 doing at pratcie today?"

"Talking about practice."

Sheri laughs, "Always cheer."

"Sheri." Clay spoke from where he sat with the hood of his jacket over his head, "Uh, do you have a minute?"

"I'll catch up with you." Sheri tells the two girls she was with.

"Okay."

"Bye, Sheri."

"Aren't you and Riley suspended?" Sheri asked the Jensen boy.

"Yeah, so could we go somewhere not in the courtyard to talk?" Clay asked her.

"I can't be late to first period." She tells him.

"I just have a couple of questions." Stated Clay.

"Alright, let's go."